Car-seat back.



1:. A. VANDERVEEH.

CAR SEAT BACK" m uc-Anon man Maze; i916.

Patcantedl NW. 5, 191%.

IN ME EL REM m2: EFW {HEW ELM iii

CLARENCE A. VAN DEEVEER, 0F WAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNUR "10 HEY- WOOD BROTHERS AND WAKEFIELD COMPANY, OF WAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS,

A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

GAR-SEAT BACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I ratenteanov. a, 11.918...

. Application filed. December as, 1916. Serial no. 139,3?5.

. dlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Car- Seat Backs, of which the. following is a specification.

This invention relates to railroad car seats and particularly to the means for fastenin the back of the seat to the supports there or.

Seat backs, whether upholstered or not, are made essentially of wood, and their side edges are fastened to supporting arms at the sides of the seat, by wood-screws that are screwed into the wooden frame. The use of wood-screws for this purpose has been objectionable, for the reason that the screws become loose and the screw-holes in the wooden structure have to be plugged from time to time with wooden pegs in order to make the screws hold tightly. The beneficial efiect of such plugging, however, is only temporary, for the plugs themselves become worn away or split, and have to be renewed.

flhe enlarging of the screw-ho1es is caused by taking out the screws to remove the back for cleaning or repairing, setting up the screws too tightly when replacing them, and, in the case of seat backs that are movable from front to back to reverse the facing direction of the seats, by sudden stopping of the back when the latter is shifted with excessive force. loo forcible shifting splits the wood in the immediate vicinity of the screws, and in some cases the splitting is so great that the placing of pegs in the screw holes is not suflicient to repair the damage.

My present invention provides metallic anchoring means affixed permanently to the wooden structure of the back, and machinescrews for fastening the back to the s de arms. Thesaid metallic anchoring means consist preferably of metallic bars, and such bars are affixed to the side edges of the back by wood-screws. In this case the woodscrews do not need to be removed in order to permit detaching the back from the side arms that support it, and the holes into which they are screwed are not sub ected to any enlarging operation after the screws have once beenscrewed intothe wood. The machine-screws that fasten the back tothe unscrewing.

side arms may be removed and replaced a relatively great number of times without causlng any enlargement of the holes in the metallic anchoring means into which they are screwed, and, furthermore, the machine screws may be set up much more tightly than wood-screws without breaking down the internal threads with which they coact. The metallic anchoring bars are prefer ably mortised into the side edges of the back, thewooden structure of the back being provided with grooves for their receptlon; and in the case of a back that is not upholstered, the side arms that support it may cover the heads of the wood-screws and thus keep the latter from unscrewing. in the case of an upholstered back, woodenfastenor-receiving strips would preferably be arranged to cover the metallic anchoring bars and be nailed to the wooden frame of the back, and thus cover the heads of the wood-screws and prevent the latter from In such case the woodenfastoner-receiving strips would have holes arranged to receive the machine screws that fasten the metallic anchoring bars to the side arms, and the machinescrews would pass freely through such holes in the wooden.

strips without depending upon the latter for anchorage. The function of the wooden fastener-receiving strips is to receive the tacks or other fasteners that are used to fasten the upholstering material that isused to cover the back. When an upholstered back of such construction is fully assembled, a

so that it may be shifted to reverse the facing direction of theseat. i

Fig. 2 represents a perspective view of a portion of the wooden frame of such back.

Fig. 3 represents a front or rear elevation showing a portion of the frame of such back,

a portion of one of the movable side arms by which the back is supported, and a handle by which the back may be shifted and of whioha passenger who is standing may take hold. This figure shows a space between the frame of the back and the supporting arm and handle, for the reception of the upholstering material with which the back would be covered.

, Fig. i represents a cross section through the structure intersected by line 4% of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 represents a crosssection through the structure intersected by line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 represents afront elevation of a seat and backthat are made without upholstering material. v

Fig. 7 representsv a cross section through the structure intersected byline 7-7 of Fig.6. V

Fig. 8 represents a cross section through thefistructure intersected by line 88 of Fig. .6. I

The same reference characters indicate the same parts wherever they occur.

Referring first to the structure shown by Figs. l-to 5 inclusive,the base of the seat is indicated as a whole at 10, and an upholstered seat-cushion is indicated at 11. Two companion side arms, such as that indicated'at 12, are arranged at thesides respectively of the base 10, and in the present instance are mounted uponoscillatory links 13, 13 that enable thearms 1.2 to be shifted to reverse the facing direction of the seat, as indicated by solid lines and by dotted lines in Fig. 1. Insome cases, however, as when it is not intended to reverse the fac ing direction of the seat, the arms 12 would be fixed.

The'b a'ck is indicated as-a whole at 15 in Fig. 1, and in Figs. & and 5 the upholstering material with which it is covered is indicated at 16. Theframe of the back is made of wood, and includes two upright wooden side bars such as that indicated at 17, and top and bottom. bars 18 and 19 connecting the side bars. Metallic anchoring bars 20 are affixed to the wooden bars 17 respectively, and the latter are preferably provided with grooves 21 so that the anchoring bars may be mortised into themand arranged so that the outer surface of each anchoring bar will be flush with that of the wooden bar into-which it is mortised. The anchoring bars are permanently fixed to the bars 17 by wood-screws 22.

After the metallic anchoring bars 20 have been mortised into and secured to the bars 17, wooden fastener-receiving strips 23 of substantially the same configuration as bars 17 are secured to the latter by. any suitable means, such as brads 25, glue, or both. Elements -17 and 23 thus become, to all intents and purposes, an integral wooden structure to which the upholste'ring material 16 may be fastened just as though the metallic anchoring bars were omitted. When 17 by wood-screws 22'.

the wooden strips 23 are used they cover the heads of the wood-screws 22, and the latter are thus positively held against unscrewing. It is therefore impossible for the metallic bars 20 to become loosened relatively to the frame of the back.

- As shown by Figs. 4, and 5, the marginal.

portions of sheet material 16 are lapped 'The wooden bars 17 of the back frame are preferably bored as indicated at 28, to provide clearance for the inner ends of the anchoring screws 26. The anchorage for the screws 26 is therefore exclusively in the metallic bars 20, and the screws may be set up as tightly as desired without breaking down the internal screw-threads that hold them. I

The'thickness of the lower frame-bar 19 is substantially the same as the width of the metallic anchoring bars 20, and the lower portions of the members 17 and 23 are tapered to the same width, in consequence of which formation the back 15 conforms approximately to the back of the occupant of the seat. This reduction in thickness at the lower part of the back is desirable both for the comfort of the occupant and because it saves an appreciable amount of space in the car. The seats may be arranged approximately two inches nearer each other (from center to center) than they could be with backs that'have the usual thickness at the bottom, and still leave as much space between the "seats as formerly. In the present instance the reduction in thickness at the lower part of the back does not weaken the back because the metallic anchoring bars 20 reinforce the wooden structure of the back, and the .shocks and stresses incidental to shifting the back and to leaning against it are sustained by said bars.

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 illustrate a non-upholstered back, the wooden frame-members 17 of which correspond to the members 17 hereinbefore described. Grooves 21 are formed in the side edges of the members 17, and metallic anchoring bars 20' are arranged in said grooves and are fixed to the members Inasmuch as'no upholstering material is used for a back of this type, there is no necessity for placing naeaaae wooden strips, such as those indicated at 23, over the metallic anchoring bars, and consequently the side arms 12 may lie in contact with the bars 20, and are so shown. The bars 20 and arms 12 are connected by machine-screws 26, the screw-threads 27 of which coact with internal screw-threads tapped in the bars 20. In this modification the arms 12 cover the heads of the woodscrews 22 and prevent the latter from unscrewing.

In each of the modifications a handle 80 is aflixed to one upper corner of the back, to afford means of which passengers may take hold, and, if the back is of the reversible type, to adord means whereby the back may be conveniently shifted. The handle is provided with an anchoring portion 31 that is arranged against one side edge of the back. When the back is to be provided with a handle I provide anchoring bars 20 of sufficient length to receive the anchoring screws 32 by which the portion 31 of the handle is anchored. Screws 32 are machine-screws similar to those indicated at 26 and 26, and the metallic anchoring bar is bored and tapped with internal screw-threads to coact with the threads of the screws 32.. Thus the handle 30 may be anchored directly to the metallic bar, which in turn is anchored directly to one of the arms 12. In the present instance the handle 30 has another anchoring portion 33, and the latter is ar ranged upon the upper edge of the back and is anchored to the upper bar 18 by a woodscrew 3a. The screws 32, however, sustain the greater part of the stresses to which the handle is subjected, and in view of the relatively strong anchorage adorded by them the single wood-screw 34: is suflicient as an auxiliary anchorage.

I claim:'

1. A car seat comprising an upholstered back including a wooden frame and a covering of sheet material, metallic anchoring bars fastened to said frame and arranged to extend along the side edges thereof inside said covering of sheet material, side arms arranged to support said back by said bars, and means arranged to aifix said bars to said arms.

2. A car seat having a back including a wooden frame and upholstering material, metallic bars arranged to extend along the side edges of said frame, wood-screws arranged to fasten said bars to said frame, wooden strips arranged against the outer sides of said bars and covering the heads of said wood-screws, said wooden strips being fastened to said frame, said upholstering material being arranged against the outer side of said wooden strips, fasteners arranged to fasten said upholstering material to said wooden strips, side arms arranged to support said back by said metallic bars, and anchoring screws arranged to fasten said barstosaid arms, said anchoring screws extending through said wooden strips and into said bars, said anchoring screws and said bars having coactive screw-threads.

3. Acar seat having a back including upholstering material, side arms arranged to support said back, and anchoring screws connecting said back rigidly to said side arms, said back comprising a frame including upright wooden side bars, metallic anchoring bars embedded in and afixed to said wooden bars respectively, said wooden bars being rabbeted for the reception of said anchoring bars, and wooden fastener-receiving members afixed to said wooden side bars and arranged to extend between said arms and anchoring bars respectively, said screws extending through said fastener-receiving members, said anchoring bars and. said screws having coactive screw-threads, said upholstering material being secured to said wooden fastener-receiving members.

4:. A car seat comprising an upholstered back including a wooden frame and a cov ering of sheet material, side arms arranged to support said back, screws extending through said arms and into said frame, and

metallic anchoring members inside said cov ering and having internal screw-threads to coact with said screws, said anchoring members being arranged to coact with said screws to fix said back to said arms.

5.. A car seat comprising an upholstered back including a wooden frame and a covering of sheet material, metallic anchoring bars arranged to extend along the side edges of said frame inside said covering, means arranged to fasten said bars to said frame, wooden strips arranged between said bars and said covering, said covering being fastened to said strips, side arms arranged to support said back by said bars, and screws arranged to coact with said arms and bars to fix said back to said arms.

In testimony whereof T have afixed my signature,

GLARENUE A. VAN DERVEE.

(Jopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the 'Uoinmisaioner of Patents,

Washington, In. H. 

